History and Doctrines of the Ajivikas: A Vanished Indian Religion c18.s2.31

c18.s2.31

The doctrines propounded by the teachers give some indication of the date of the composition of the work. The author seems to have known *Maṇimēkalai*, and consciously to have modelled his poem on the philosophical part of that work. His language is somewhat later than that of *Maṇimēkalai*. We may therefore suggest the seventh century A.D. as the earliest possible date of the poem's composition. The work must have been in existence by the end of the thirteenth century, if, according to Professor Chakravarti's theory, Vāmanamuni, the commentator to *Nīlakēci*, lived at that time.¹ It is probable, however, that the poem antedates its commentator by several centuries on the evidence of the doctrines of the nine teachers. *Nīlakēci* must have been written when it was still possible for a Dravidian Jaina to look on Buddhism as his sect's most dangerous rival. The author has nothing to say about the Vedānta school of Śaṅkara or the Viśiṣṭādvaita of Rāmānuja, so we may assume that he wrote before the influence of these philosophers was much felt in South India. Moreover he does not mention devotional Śaivism. It therefore seems that *Nīlakēci* was written before any of these sects became very influential in the Tamil country. We may suggest the ninth century as the latest date at which it could have been written.